Summit Scoop

Summit Scoop is a monthly newsletter for families and staff members in the Summit Public School District. Summit Scoop features stories of student achievement, events in the District, and positive news around the school community! The newsletter will be sent out on the last Thursday of the month. You can find an archive of newsletters sent throughout the year on the District website.

Summit Scoop can be translated into many different languages. All you need to do is open the newsletter in a web browser, and then click on the "Translate" button. If you open it on your phone, you will need to find the accessibility icon which will bring you to the translation option. It is usually at the bottom. If you open it on a computer, the option is at the top of the page.

Summit Scoop se puede traducir a muchos idiomas diferentes. Solo abra el boletín en un navegador web y luego haga clic en el botón "Traducir". Si lo abre en su teléfono, necesitará encontrar el ícono de accesibilidad que lo llevará a la opción de traducción. Suele estar en la parte inferior. Si lo abre en una computadora, la opción está en la parte superior de la página.

Our inaugural STEAM Career Week from November 11-15 was quite the success! Altogether between the five elementary schools, we had more than 50 parent and community volunteers sign up to present to our students in the STEAM Labs. Some examples of careers included Graphic Designers, Pharmaceutical Scientists, Civil Engineers, Clinical Scientists, Software Engineers, Surgeons, and Art conservationists.

Students were very engaged in the presentations and our presenters were more than willing to answer questions from our curious learners. It is exciting to see the opportunities for students expand in our STEAM labs! We appreciate our STEAM teachers for always looking for ways to enhance our students’ educational experience. We also thank all of the parents and community members for sharing their stories with our students, which further solidifies the importance of the home and school partnership. Our elementary STEAM labs were made possible by the generosity of the Summit Educational Foundation.

During the spring grant cycle, the Summit Educational Foundation (SEF) awarded more than $40,000 to support the Reflex Math program for grades 1-5 at every elementary school. Reflex Math helps students build math fact stigma in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Teachers also appreciate the fact that they can monitor progress and celebrate student success through the online platform. Jefferson Teacher Mr. Bell and Elementary Technology Coach Ms. Cohen wrote the SEF grant together after seeing students' improvement in Math after utilizing the platform.

Mr. Bell says, "Reflex Math has been renewed for an additional three-year period for all five elementary schools in Summit, thanks to the SEF. Students are attracted to the program because it's user-friendly and engaging. Students solve facts and earn tokens on their way to achieving a 'green light.' Once their green light is complete they may spend their accumulated tokens at the 'game store.' The students love this aspect of the game! While all schools have students using the website, shout out to Brayton Elementary School, which annually uses Reflex Math most frequently in our community!"

On Veterans Day, Ms. Esposito, School Counselor at Brayton Elementary School, organized an activity where students signed an American flag poster alongside their therapy dog, Beau. The poster will be sent to a veterans' hospital in Orlando, where Mr. Fessock, Brayton’s Physical Education teacher, has a brother who is a member. Mr. Fessock's brother, Rob, served multiple tours in the military and gifted a flag to Brayton Elementary School upon returning from his final tour.

The staff of the Summit High School Yearbook, The Top, received three commendations from the Garden State Scholastic Press Association for the 2024 edition "in recognition of outstanding journalism in the statewide High School Yearbook Contest":

• Excellence in Clubs and Organization Coverage
• Excellence in Student Life Coverage
• Second Place Silver Award

The Top is published by the students in the Yearbook & Publications elective under the guidance of teacher and adviser Christine Reinholt. It's a yearlong process and labor of love for the students to contribute to the historical record and legacy of Summit High School! Below are photos of last year's class members 'unboxing', or getting a first glimpse at the finished yearbooks.

Summit High School organized various activities to raise awareness of the dangers of substance use as part of their prevention efforts for Red Ribbon Week. Juniors and seniors from the Students Helping Students club visited the second-grade classes at Washington School to read The Red Ribbon Story - a story about building community through acts of kindness. The lesson in the story is to be kind, be inclusive, and take care of one another. We also thank the SHS cheerleaders for placing red ribbons around the school!

Summit High School students and staff attended Jesse's Journey, an assembly presented by Maureen Morella, and her son, Jesse. Jesse at 19, suffered severe and irreversible brain damage after a drug overdose and survives today as a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair. Mrs. Morella passionately uses Jesse’s story to educate students on the tragic consequences one bad decision with drugs or alcohol can create.

In addition, the school hosted The Black Poster Project, an addiction and overdose awareness group from New Jersey that travels with posters of people who lost their lives due to addiction. It is a powerful display that allows participants to walk through at their own pace reading the personal narratives

Congratulations to these Summit High School senior student-athletes who have committed to continue their academic and athletic careers in college next year!

Juliana Alicea, Softball - Stonehill College

Sidney Arcella, Swimming - Duke University

Molly Davies, Lacrosse - Georgetown University

Nell Ducey, Lacrosse - Yale University

Parker Febo, Lacrosse - George Washington University

Matthew Kurek, Baseball - Fairfield University

Mackenzie Matter, Lacrosse - Northwestern University

Genevieve McKay, Rowing - Georgetown University

Charlie Moon, Swimming - Lafayette College

Susannah O’Connell, Lacrosse - Pennsylvania State University

Grace Penque, Sailing - Cornell University

Sloane Ricciuti, Lacrosse - Bucknell University

Tyler Sebastian, Lacrosse - Hofstra University

Freshman Charlotte Lemkau became the first Summit High School Gymnast to compete in the All-Around at the State Final and hit 4 for 4 routines with no mistakes. She earned 7th place on beam with a 9.3 and is the first Hilltopper gymnast to ever place at States!

Towards the end of October, the Summit High School Speech and Debate Team enjoyed a very successful tournament at Bronx Science High School! Summit won second in Overall Sweepstakes out of 129 schools from 29 states. 16 entries advanced to elimination rounds, and 8 advanced to the final rounds!

Public Forum Debate

Sexto Finalists - Kira Bhatia and Lexie Malik* earned a Silver Bid

Run-Off Round - Mahati Mudgal and Willow Tham

Duo Interpretation

3rd Place - Ainsley Valerio and Rory Gingeleskie*

6th Place - Lucy Adams and Reid Whitley

Humorous Interpretation

5th - Abe Pearlman

Semi-finalists - Matt Krunnfusz, Shreya Gopal

Informative Speaking

3rd - Izzy Rosen

4th - Sarah Barber

Program Oral Interpretation

4th - Becca Kampel

5th - Izzy Curiale

Original Oratory

3rd - Abby Rosen *

Dramatic Interpretation

Semi-Finalists - Callie Cukierman, Ainsley Valerio

Oral Interpretation

Semi-Finalists - Amelia Jorek, Zoe Gianni

*earned a bid to the Tournament of Champions at the University of Kentucky in April

DECEMBER 12

Board of Education Meeting

LCJSMS Auditorium
6:30 p.m.

Agendas/Minutes

DECEMBER 23-JANUARY 1

Schools Closed

Winter Break

• Family technology support
• School times
• Food services
• School counseling
• Athletics schedule
• Arts calendar